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Latest, CE Mark, RNS - By end of April.
"The Company is well on its way to establishing a lateral flow production capacity of approximately 2 million tests per week by the end of April from its Alva facility in Scotland."
Yup, Abingdon is the consortium lead.
For the initial DHSC order, Omega sold the tests @£1.50 a test with margin of "slightly better" than the 50% set out in an earlier investor presentation.
Then consider what we see around us. Third wave in Europe. Ages 10-19 now most at risk. School testing, now College and Uni testing. Tests to go places, get into pubs, watch matches, go to festivals, travel etc. Covid really is not going away, and in fact all things appear to lead back to testing, testing, testing.
So with the fundamentals of having facilities, having capacity, have the team, and having Antibody and Antigen tests CE marked married with a world that will need tests for as long as we can think of (not the limited timespan of a PI thought process), I’d say we’re in a pretty good place (SP aside).
There are many questions yet to be answered, and I fully appreciate it's frustrating.
As I've mentioned in other posts, this one pushes the patience levels to whole new levels.
But for me, personally, Omega are set for good things to come. I think April is when the good things start to come, but there is going to be a period of ongoing news. I’ll put it out there too… we may never get to see the price/margin for many of the orders, particularly when it comes to DHSC. We have been provided expected price/margin for most of the tests, before now, and we may get comment that order prices are in line with, or have exceed, expectations as was communicated in the initial ABC-19 order, but it may be a case of wait and see the trading updates to really see how the financials are.
Too much, for me, of a future ahead for Omega.. and I’ve not even touched on the CD4, FI and new tests coming online.
I can appreciate different views and opinions. I like bouncing of Twatcher, and others that come with something to say.
At the end of the day you have to weigh up your research and make your decisions.
You can rant about them after if you like, but it doesn’t make for great reading, if I’m honest.
DYOR, GLA.. we are all hear to make money and wish that for all. Even the Avacta crowd. :-)
2/2
I'm not sure Colin or the BOD have ever 'promised' anything.
The investor presentations are carefully worded, which is why I think Colin stumbles at times in making sure he uses the right phrases, with anticipation and expectations, never promises.
Many of the timeline challenges are because we're dependent on others driving them.
Abingdon are on point for the MHRA approval of ABC-19.
The DHSC are on point to select an Antigen test.
We couldn't commence TT of the Mologic tests until Mologic CE marked the tests.
With regards to TT of the Mologic Antigen test, this was in it's very infancy talked about as a Dec/Jan available test (for Omega), but that timeline was pushed out by Mologic when CE mark only landed December 24th. I also think there are other activities that we're not yet aware of that made this a 3 month TT. I'm sure it's by no means a simple process, and PI's, myself included, would like it all to happen tomorrow, but it takes time.
The things that have been in Omegas control, I think, have been delivered on.
Establishing partnerships with world leading developers (Mologic), expanding facilities, increasing capacity, growing headcount etc.
Now I also appreciate that none of those things impact profit (in fact detract from it), and until such time as the aforementioned pieces fall into place, in terms of approvals, selection, and more so orders (with volume, price and margin), we’re not in the happiest place but also not the unhappiest place either (though some will totally disagree).
All of this, of course, is underpinned by the Pandemic that is offering us the opportunity (not promises) to grow Omega, exponentially, to be at the top of the UK diagnostics tree. That pandemic is driving decisions taken, often at government level, that Omega then have to adapt to. ELISA, didn't prove successful, so they pivoted and created the Lab service, focus by UK Gov (in creating the UK-RTC) on prioritising Antibody tests, then flipping strategy to Antigen, now seemingly Antibody tests might be back in favour, are all moving landscapes that Omega have had to and are navigating. And we’re AIM listed, with no II’s. It’s a fickle ol place to be.
1/2
By end of April.
Punit... is that you?
Let's hope so.
My wife will tell anyone I'm a very impatient person.
This company has turned me into a frickin saint.
wrong board.. apologies.
What's with the £1.98/99 repeat buys?
*loaned, not owned.
I'm not sure if you're referring to me as the ramper. If it is me, I stopped discussing the subject as it appeared to be going around in circles... and here we are again... :-)
but we did have an exchange of thoughts and opinions on this, a few weeks ago.
Colin has responded, before now, to Big Jock commenting that Omega had been producing LFTs (ABC-19 and CD4, I think) with the capacity available. I've never said they were knocking out tests at full capacity, because what's not clear is what capacity has been available to date, as some of the kit will have been used for TT purposes. It's also not clear if the test capacity (graph) presented in various investor presentations reflects numbers at the start, during or end of the month.
But none the less, I personally think that Colin is not a stupid business person. He has hired a heap of folk, ordered and been owned a heap of kit, expanded building works, has secured a government contract, and I'm sure a whole lot more that we will be informed about in due course. I am confident they have been producing and stockpiling tests.
DYOR.
"Investors will likely see this as more disappointment" ??? Really? I would suggest they're not investors if they're disappointed with the news today.
I looked in over the weekend and you seem to have taken over the board Goldtrig.
All posters welcome, but most of yours seem to be AVCT related. Maybe take them there.
Todays RNS is not numbers/orders.... YET.. that's what will really get the SP moving north... but it is certainly another very nice check in the box in underpinning the companies strategy, and value.
All ready for sale now (some will jump on this... "where are the sales, what about this, what about that"). April onwards is going to be fun times.
* DHSC Antigen (DHSC test selection pending - I think very soon though, given the publication of the ODX and GAD CAN)
* Visitect Antigen (Interested to know what the commercial partners are)
* UK-RTC ABC-19 Antibody (Lots of news regarding AB testing at the moment, and being reviewed in 30 countries)
* Visitect Antibody (Gone a bit quiet on this one, so some updates would be great. Maybe they're in discussion with the same commercial partners for the AG test)
* CD4 Advanced Disease test (Update pending on NGO orders)
* ELISA (I think, now the LAB service is setup, this is going to be a sleeper (as in will surprise us).. Screen4 selling @£52 seems very competitive)
* Food Intolerance (Update pending on further China orders, and the big one for me is breaking into the US market)
And with relation to the DHSC test.
A number of thoughts.
It could still be Mologic, with DHSC going through rigorous process of validation to quash any potential come back/challenge of process in the future.
It could be Mologic/Aptamer
It could be Mologic/Vitac (tested recently in Edinburgh airport)
It could be ( I sense this is your preference) Mologic/Avacta (yet to be CE Marked "around the end of the quarter")
It could be, but unlikely, SureScreen
It could be a few of the above.
There's a theme in the above... Mologic. ODX have a well established history with Mologic, and no matter what test is selected we'll be ready. It wouldn't surprise me if Omega have already been running TT for a number of the above, in readiness for DHSC selection, if not deemed to be the Mologic test we CE marked today.
GLA, DYOR.
"We look forward with confidence that the coming year ahead will be truly transformational for Omega."
You're damned right we do.
.. I had "early in the new year" as Q1 for me... thank goodness for that... getting a bit squeaky there.
Well done Colin and team... Well done LTH for the trust in the BOD.
The next RNSs are the order numbers/demand/volume... The really interesting ones.
* DHSC Antigen (DHSC test selection pending - I think very soon though, given the publication of the ODX and GAD CAN)
* Visitect Antigen (Interested to know what the commercial partners are)
* UK-RTC ABC-19 Antibody (Lots of news regarding AB testing at the moment, and being reviewed in 30 countries)
* Visitect Antibody (Gone a bit quiet on this one, so some updates would be great. Maybe they're in discussion with the same commercial partners for the AG test)
* CD4 Advanced Disease test (Update pending on NGO orders)
* ELISA (I think, now the LAB service is setup, this is going to be a sleeper (as in will surprise us).. Screen4 selling @£52 seems very competitive)
* Food Intolerance (Update pending on further China orders, and the big one for me is breaking into the US market)
It's really quite a suite of products, and opportunities, now.
Wallbrooke, nobody can knock your enthusiasm for ODX, but I think you need to consider some of your posts.
This £52 is the Screen4 price.
We don't know what the Omega price to Screen4 is, but it won't be £52. Neither do we know what the margin is, now that it's the Lab service.
That said, even if it's say £30 @50% margin that's still a very profitable test.. but we need Omega to inform us of price, margin and demand to understand the real impact to the financials.
I've got this covered Computer... never mind twice a week... I've got my 4 kids doing 2 a day, every day.. we'll get through them in no time.. :-)
"So Mologic test has been chosen then?"
That was my first thought too.. but Mologic have fingers in all the test pies... so it's still hard to call which one it will be I think.
Bushmaster, hi.. As some have commented ODX line has always been that they will be at the 2m per week by end of April.
I think the May debate has arisen from a comment in the recent Gov announcements.
The quote from Lord Bethell is;
"Omega and Global Access Diagnostics will have the capacity to produce approximately 2 million tests per week each by the end of May,"
My take on that is that GAD may still be ramping up their capacity until end of May.,